Campus Life

MIT’s collaborative, hands-on, curiosity-driven ethos in the classroom and lab extends across our campus — and beyond. On the stage or field, in makerspaces, living communities, and the surrounding area, MIT is where brilliant, committed, creative people come together to learn, work, live, and play.

Diverse in every sense of the word, our community is a playground for opportunity in the heart of a global innovation hub. Just 364.4 smoots (plus or minus one ear) across the Charles River from Boston — one of the best cities in the world for students — our 166-acre riverside campus brims with daring artists, talented athletes, and a club for just about anything.

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Student Life

With 500+ student organizations (chocolate science, anyone?), nearly 40 Greek-letter and independent living groups, chaplains for more than 20 faith traditions, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion, student life at MIT offers a welcoming place for everyone. To complement their academics and research, students choose their own extracurricular adventures, from a spectacular array of ways to participate in music, dance, and sports to dozens of groups that savor and celebrate cultures from around the world. To help students navigate challenges, MIT offers a strong support network (bolstered by occasional visits from puppies, pigs, and pygmy goats).

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Housing & Dining

Our residence halls are part entertainment center, part brain trust, part support system, and wholly central to students’ MIT experience. Campus residences have distinct personalities and traditions (like a cross-campus water fight!), which contribute as much to our students’ growth as their academic experiences do. Dining at MIT is about choice and flexibility, with five dining halls, nearly 20 retail eateries, and meal plans that allow students to enjoy it all.

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Athletics & Recreation

MIT’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation offers sports instruction and participation at all levels. With 33 varsity sports — 17 for men, 15 for women, one co-ed — the Engineers boast 295 Academic All-America citations (the most in the country) and over 1,500 athletic All-America honors. We also work to foster community, inspire leadership, and promote wellness through physical education, recreation programs, club sports, intramurals — and, for the swashbuckling, the pirate arts.

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Players on the women’s tennis team celebrate a win.
The MIT Shotokan Karate Club in competition.

Arts

The arts thrive naturally in MIT’s creative culture of experimentation and innovation that crosses every discipline. On a campus that features more than 3,500 noted works of contemporary art and landmark buildings by legendary architects like Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei, more than half of all undergraduates enroll in arts classes each year.

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A student presents his work in an architecture critique.
A responsive environment developed at MIT reacts as a visiting artist plays the cello.

Diversity & Inclusion

At MIT, we welcome and support a diverse community of remarkable talent. But we know that to make a better world, we must work to continually make a better MIT. With that inspiration, we strive to remove barriers to talent wherever we find them, to build mutual understanding across our campus, to celebrate our our wonderful range of cultures and backgrounds — and to help everyone in our community feel at home at MIT.

Health & Wellness

Succeeding at MIT means staying healthy — mind and hand, body and soul. Everyone needs a checkup or a check-in sometime. The Institute’s network of physical and mental support resources aims to keep our community happy, healthy, and active. And, through initiatives like MindHandHeart, we are always looking for ways to engage students, faculty, and staff to make MIT stronger and more welcoming.